★ Thought for the Day – Overcoming Adversity Through Courage – Part 5 ★

I hope that you have been enjoying the series about men and women in scripture who consistently chased after God and faithfully worked at building His Kingdom, overcoming adversity because of a particular trait. So far, we covered:

These (8) men and women as well as the other “OVERCOMERS” we will study lived out our anchor verse from Joshua 1:8 (NLT) that we have been reviewing each post:

142 - Daily Dependence - Joshua 1-8

“Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do.”

This truth is as applicable to us today as when it was spoken thousands of years ago, but I thought today we would look at the context of this verse through our next two Overcomers: Joshua and Caleb, who did so through courage!

142 - Daily Dependence - Joshua and Celeb I will forever beat the drum that “context is everything.” I truly believe that we do a disservice to ourselves and to God when we just à la carte the Bible, cherry-picking verses to build our theology upon. So, in keeping with that, let’s look at the events of when this word of encouragement was spoken. The nation of Israel was at a preverbal crossroad in their history. They had just finished (40) years of wandering in the wilderness because of their lack of faith that God would deliver them. For those who may not know or remember. Moses has sent 12 spies into the Promise Land to see what the land was like. After 10 of the 12 spies gave a bad report about how hopeless their odds were to actually overcome the giants that lived there, the people rebelled against Moses and his brother Aaron and as a result God punished them, (see Numbers Chapters 13-14 and Numbers 33-38). I did want to point out the other 2 spies who gave a good report to the people were our Overcomers spotlighted today. In Numbers 14:6-9 (NLT):

“Two of the men who had explored the land, Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, tore their clothing. They said to all the people of Israel, “The land we traveled through and explored is a wonderful land! And if the Lord is pleased with us, he will bring us safely into that land and give it to us. It is a rich land flowing with milk and honey. Do not rebel against the Lord, and don’t be afraid of the people of the land. They are only helpless prey to us! They have no protection, but the Lord is with us! Don’t be afraid of them!””

Amazing huh? In the previous verses, the 10 spies whipped the people into a fear-full frenzy about the inhabitants of the land, but these 2 courageous men stood in the gap for God and boldly testified that regardless of their size, “They are only helpless prey to us! They have no protection, but the Lord is with us! Don’t be afraid of them!” It is not easy standing up for what is right, especially when the vast majority is opposed to you. In today’s world we see that too, that what is wrong is right and what is right is wrong. Calling yourself a Christian or Christ-Follower is a label that many see as intolerant and hateful to what the world celebrates. Persecution of Christians is rampant all over the world and though in America Christians are not out rightly being imprisoned or executed for their faith, there is still consequences for standing for God. Numbers 14:10-12 (NLT) records the reaction the people have to Joshua and Caleb’s faith in the God, who mind you had delivered them from Egyptian Slavery 40 years earlier …

“But the whole community began to talk about stoning Joshua and Caleb.

Then the glorious presence of the Lord appeared to all the Israelites at the Tabernacle. And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will these people treat me with contempt? Will they never believe me, even after all the miraculous signs I have done among them? I will disown them and destroy them with a plague. Then I will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they are!”

Have you ever heard of such an insane reaction to a word of encouragement? The whole community wanted to kill Joshua and Caleb!! That has always baffled me, what did they say that deserved to be stoned to death?! I love how God stepped in and saved his courageous servants with a threat of His own! As the story unfolds, Moses interceded for the people and God relented from killing them on the spot but there were consequences for their sin as Numbers 14:28-30 (NLT) recounts:

“Now tell them this: ‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord, I will do to you the very things I heard you say. You will all drop dead in this wilderness! Because you complained against me, every one of you who is twenty years old or older and was included in the registration will die. You will not enter and occupy the land I swore to give you. The only exceptions will be Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.”

If you are curious, in Numbers 14:33-38 it gives the justification that the Israelites would wander in the wilderness for forty years as payment for the community’s faithlessness, until everyone of that generation would die off. The number of years of wandering was because the spies explored the land for forty days, so they had to “wander in the wilderness for forty years—a year for each day, suffering the consequences of [their] sins…Of the twelve who had explored the land, only Joshua and Caleb remained alive.” If you want to dig into this some more, here are some key passages to look at: Numbers 14:20-24, 14:33-38 and Numbers 20:6-13.

So fast forward to the time of when our anchor verse was spoken to Joshua. Moses, the great prophet and deliverer of the Israelite people from Egyptian slavery is dead (see Deuteronomy 34:5). Before his passing, Moses announced to the people in Deuteronomy 31:1-3 that Joshua would be his successor and that he would lead them across the Jordan River into the Promised Land. But before that was to happen, God visited with Joshua to give him encouragement and to let him know that it was time for them to enter the Promised Land (see Joshua 1:1-4), in verse 5, the Creator of the Universe says:

“No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live. For I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will not fail you or abandon you.”

Could you imagine getting that promise directly from the LORD? What a way to start a book and to prepare to go into battle. I often wish that I could get an audible message from God like that, but we live in different times. Today, we have God, the Holy Spirit living inside of us as 1 John 4:4 (NLT) says:

“But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world.”

Notice the capital “S” which is for the Holy Spirit and then the second reference with the lowercase “s” which represents the satanic forces that are coming against us daily. When you look at 1 John 1:1-4, it is clear that the passage is referencing the Holy Spirit who lives inside us! So, we have to listen for that “small, still voice inside us” where Joshua needed to be visited by the Lord and look what He says to him in Joshua 1:6-9 (NLT):

“Be strong and courageous, for you are the one who will lead these people to possess all the land I swore to their ancestors I would give them. Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the instructions Moses gave you. Do not deviate from them, turning either to the right or to the left. Then you will be successful in everything you do. Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do. This is my command — be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

What a great passage telling us that even when we WILL face adversity, that God will always be with us through the storms of life! In (4) verses God says, “Be strong and courageous” (3) times! That tells me that Joshua (and myself) need to work out our faith and trust God regardless of circumstances! In the post ★ Thought for the Day – Be Strong and Courageous ★, we unpacked this passage thoroughly, so I’d recommend you go check it out for more context but something that you don’t typically see is an instruction repeated three times in the same passage of scripture. But in Joshua 1:6-9, we find that the Lord saw the need to repeat Himself. In my Monday Bible Study we have been going through the book of Ezekiel, the LORD felt the need to repeat Himself 3 times in Ezekiel 2:6 (NLT) to encourage his Prophet to the people of Judah with the command to “not be fearful, afraid or dismayed.”

““Son of man, do not fear them or their words. Don’t be afraid even though their threats surround you like nettles and briers and stinging scorpions. Do not be dismayed by their dark scowls, even though they are rebels.”

It is interesting that though there are over 800 years separating these mighty men of God, the same Holy Spirit was speaking through them to His servants!! I thought how interesting that Ezekiel who we just unpacked in the post ★ Thought for the Day – Overcoming Adversity Through Perseverance – Part 3 ★ was in need of some encouragement just like Joshua, just like you and I do! We all have seasons of doubt and fear, but we must remember that God is always with us, we just have to trust Him! I thought how perfect this is that though written centuries apart, Ezekiel 2:8 and Joshua 1:6-9 are perfect companion verses.

Do not fear = Be strong and courageous.
Don’t be afraid = Be strong and very courageous.
Do not be dismayed = Be strong and courageous!

We don’t have time to get into all the stories but if you have not read the Book of Joshua lately I would check it out because after this encouragement from the Lord, Joshua gives the charge to the Israelites that they were going into the Promised Land and ultimately one battle after another they saw God come through for them. Today regardless of what you are facing whether it be isolation because of your faith, persecution, illness, or unemployment, follow the example of Joshua and Caleb and be strong and courageous!

Stay tuned for the next post in the series…

★ ★ ★ DIG DEEPER ★ ★ ★

★ Thought for the Day – What’s Your Blanket? ★

★ Thought for the Day – Chain Reaction Catalyst ★

★ Thought for the Day – Stand Up for What is Right ★

If you are enjoying these posts, you can hit the “Follow” button to receive blogs delivered to your inbox so you never miss a post!